Naked Frame Part 19

They got into Gabby's car and he backed out of the driveway. As he backed into the street, he saw a car in his rearview mirror making a U-turn. Gabby gunned the accelerator. "They're following us." He ignored the stop sign at the end of the street, and turned right.

The other car followed.

For blocks, Gabby tried to elude the chaser. Finally, he turned off his lights.

Rebecca panicked. "What are you doing? You're going to hit something."

"Don't worry. I've done this before."

His eyes began to adjust to the near darkness in front of him. He turned into a used car lot, pulled in between two pickups, and killed the engine.

They sat perfectly still, barely breathing.

Headlights drove by. After a minute or so, they began to relax.

There were two taps on Gabby's window.

When he turned, he was looking into the end of a gun barrel.

"Get out," a gruff voice said.

They obeyed. The men patted them down. One thug took Gabby's smartphone and threw it across the pavement. The other one grabbed Rebecca's phone, pulled off her shoulder holster and pistol and tossed everything on the ground. They zip-tied their wrists behind their backs.

Once they were in the black full-sized van, with the two thugs in the seat behind them, the man in the front pa.s.senger seat turned around. They recognized him immediately as Bobby Ballantini-Joey's right hand man. His face looked eerie, backlit by the soft glow of the instrument panel. "I'm afraid you two have been bad little children. Now you're going to the princ.i.p.al's office."

Rebecca had made plenty of trips to the princ.i.p.al's office. A couple of times she even got paddled, with permission from her dad. And she had deserved it.

But she and Gabby were in for more than a paddling. In retrospect, perhaps turning themselves in to the police would not have been such a bad idea after all.

The van drove into a warehouse. Once the warehouse door closed, the lights came on, and they saw Joey standing there.

The two goons ordered them out of the car and over to where Joey was waiting. "Well, h.e.l.lo, Heather."

He slapped Rebecca in the face with a vengeance, and she stumbled backward. "I mean Rebecca Ranghorn."

After Joey had caught her in his office and then nearly had s.e.x with her, he might have wondered if she'd had some ulterior motive for being there. Perhaps he realized he had left his desk unlocked-and that she had probably seen his contract to purchase Cafe Nue.

"And this is your buddy, Gabby. How are you doing, Gabby?" Joey punched him in the stomach.

Gabby fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

Joey stepped back. "Now, you can make this easy. Or you can make it painful."

Rebecca looked straight into his eyes. "What's the point? You're going to kill us anyway."

Joey laughed. "That's Old School. I'm sophisticated. Subtle. Just answer my questions and I'll let you go on your merry way."

Rebecca hoped Gabby wasn't falling for Joey's bulls.h.i.t.

He stepped up close to her. "Tell me what you know about my contract."

"What contract?" said Rebecca.

"Wrong answer." Joey punched her in the face. "One more chance."

Blood dripped from Rebecca's nose. She wondered if she had lost a tooth. "Screw you."

"No. Screw you." Joey punched her in the stomach.

Rebecca fell to the concrete in agony.

Gabby said, "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

One of the goons jabbed a rock-hard fist into Gabby's ribs, and he collapsed to the floor in the fetal position.

"Leave him alone, you son of a b.i.t.c.h," screamed Rebecca.

One of the goons handed Joey a four-foot galvanized pipe.

Joey grasped the pipe as though it were a baseball bat, and stepped over to where Gabby was lying. "You know, Gabby, back in the day, I was a h.e.l.luva ball player."

"Okay. Wait." Rebecca gasped. "I saw the contract."

"Now, see how easy that was? And did you tell anybody about it?"

"Just Gabby."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

Joey c.o.c.ked the bat, ready to take a swing at Gabby's head. "Are you still sure?"

"Yes!"

"Get them out of here," said Joey.

The goon yanked Rebecca's arm, pulling her to her feet. He and the other thug threw them back into the van.

It was a long drive, but n.o.body spoke a word.

When the van drove into an abandoned marina, Rebecca understood what Bobby had in mind for them. Her nose was bleeding and her teeth felt loose. And she guessed that Gabby was suffering from cracked ribs. But what did it matter? They were about to be fish food.

Bobby stayed in the van with the driver while the two backseat thugs unloaded Rebecca and Gabby. They ordered them to sit down on the dock, and used a rope to tie them together, back to back. Then they zip-tied their ankles.

The thugs walked to the car. Rebecca expected them to come back with cinder blocks and chains.

The engine started up, and the van drove away.

"What the h.e.l.l?" said Gabby.

CHAPTER 32 - Tuesday, 10:19 p.m.

Gabby said, "So, if Joey's not going to kill us..."

"He probably hired somebody-like whoever it was that killed Calvin."

"Wonderful."

"Fall over to your side."

"Why? What are we going to do? Play dead? I don't think that's going to-"

"-no, Silly. Just do it. Fall over to your right side."

"Okay, I'll play along."

They tipped over together.

"Now, we'll stretch our legs out straight so our heels are touching."

"Okay. Now what? Is this some kind of Houdini trick?"

"Not exactly. We'll roll over to the edge of the dock. There's a lower deck. I saw the stairs."

"We're gonna roll down the stairs?"

"We'll try to hide down there."

"I guess that's better than sitting here in plain view."

"Yeah. They could drive out here in a big truck and just run over us."

"That's not how I want to go out."

"Okay, then let's go with my plan."

"Wait. How are we going to do this?"

"I'll roll on top of you. Then you'll roll on top of me."

"Sounds painful-especially with our hands tied behind us."

"If we roll fast, it won't be so bad. Let's go."

They began to roll, gradually picking up speed.

"Whoa. Hold it," said Gabby. "I'm going to be sick."

They stopped on their sides.

"Go ahead," said Rebecca. "Throw up. But try not to do it where my head is about to be."

"Don't rush me. I'm dizzy. But I think I'll be okay in a minute."

"Listen. Do you hear that? A car's coming."

Rebecca heaved to the side and they began to roll again. She could hear the car getting closer. No. It was at least two cars.

Almost to the edge of the dock. The cars would be there any moment. They rolled down the stairs at full speed, banging their way to the lower deck. At the bottom, Rebecca's head hit the wood, nearly knocking her out.

They continued to roll several more feet.

Rebecca said, "We've got to roll over there-under the overhang."

They were all banged up, but getting pretty good at maneuvering themselves. They rolled under the upper deck, to the very edge of the lower deck. Gabby faced the edge.

Cars drove onto the dock. Rebecca figured two cars. Doors opened.

One of the men said, "I thought they were supposed to be sitting right here."

That's no hit man or gang member, thought Rebecca. It's cops. So, they weren't going to be murdered. Her arms and hands were both sore and somewhat numb from the rolling trip. But the zip-tie around her wrists didn't seem as tight. Could it have stretched? Not likely, she thought. In fact, her wrists and hands should have been swollen after the all that rolling. She pulled with all her might. There was no pain-only numbness. Would she even feel it if the plastic zip-tie was peeling the skin off of her hands?

Another cop said, "Mike, you and Ron check that building over there. And that old pickup. Me and Bill will search the boats."

Rebecca saw the flashlight beams approaching. She heard two cops coming down the stairs.

They began to shine their lights into each boat.

It was only a matter of time before one of the flashlights pointed toward them. She yanked her left hand, trying desperately to free it. But if she did manage to get her hands loose, then what? She and Gabby should probably give up. Yell to the cops. Go to jail.

But she still didn't know who framed her for Big Bill's murder. Could she trust the cops to figure it out? She was the obvious killer. Open and shut case. Why investigate further?

The cops worked their way outward to the ends of the dock, and began to walk back toward the center.

Rebecca saw one of them shining his light under the edge of the upper dock. Within twenty seconds she and Gabby would be discovered. No! She thrust her body upward and over Gabby.

They rolled off the dock, into the water.